Not going to defend Musk and his many flawed choices on the Cybertruck, but the issue you mention is common to most newer vehicles. The laminated glass for the windshield and front/passenger windows is nearly unbreakable with the usual small, handheld window-breakers, compared to the older tempered “safety glass” that broke easily into many tiny dull chunks still used in rear door windows and rear windshields.
I can confirm that it’s used in the windshield and front windows in my wife’s 2024 Toyota Rav4 Prime. It’s a complicated issue for me - I’ve handled claims (in the past mind you) where a deer was struck, and went up the hood and straight through the windshield injuring the driver. A more resistant windshield does provide some additional protection, and the laminate does prevent shards of glass from separating and causing injuries as well.
Really paranoid drivers (see Musk) think having it for the driver side and passenger side windows prevents the “THEM” from breaking the windows and forcing themselves on the driver easily or pulling the driver from the car. This… yeah, not so much a concern for me, but people buying “bulletproof” cars will think it’s a perk right up until it isn’t.
As said, I’m generally positive on it for windshields, reluctant but tolerating if for front windows, BUT I’d want to make sure (echoing the thread) that it was made extra easy to exit the car via manual controls given the increased risks.
To be clear, I’m not disagreeing with you Magiver, just adding it’s not a choice made by just Musk/Tesla.
OMG, I had no idea any other vehicles had laminated side windows. Thanks for the heads-up on it ParallelLines. I think it’s a stupid and dangerous idea. Here’s a website that lists such cars
One of my cars is on that list and I’m not happy about it at all. I guess knowing about it is empowering but damn. I wonder if I can get a cheap sunroof installed.
At the same time, the bears get to practice extensively and are highly motivated to get in for all the yummy trash inside.
The tourists show up once, with one hand full of trash, try to get it open then realize dropping the trash right there works too. Then they wander off to do whatever they really want to do, not deal with trash.
A few brands of cars built between 2000 and 2009, and damn near every brand and model from 2010 to present.
This is a 15-25 year old issue. Oddly enough the media are not full of stories of people trapped and dying from newfangled suddenly-unbreakable windows.
I’d say it’s time to relax and go back to sleep on this one.
We were responding to a Cybertruck person who couldn’t exit the vehicle. Yes for a different reason but the window was an easy way out in a car with tempered glass.
Maybe. I’m going to bet that the percentage of people with tempered glass cars who have a breaking tool and can actually find it and use it both timely and effectively are darn near zero. Converting darn near zero to no-kidding zero by going to laminated glass on what’s already an extremely rare corner case event (trapped in sinking / burning car with intact closed windows) is not going to matter spit to the national statistics.
And you can break a laminated window. It just takes better tools and more effort.
Meanwhile, the industry switched to these new, sturdier, and more expensive windows for a reason. Which reason is almost certainly related to reducing the total amount of injuries and death from tempered window failures in crashes.
[checks] Phew, my 2006 Scion xB (Toyota) isn’t on the list, so my window-breaker/seatbelt-slicer tools in the two front-seat door pockets will be able to do the job if necessary.
I came across this helpful page for figuring out if your side-door window is tempered or laminated glass:
Ehhh, it’s a long list, but far from damn near every model. I’ve got three cars sitting in my driveway that fit in the 2010-present time range, none of them have laminated side glass.
Did i misread that table? I thought most cars stopped using it around 2018.
I agree that “trapped in a submerged car, can’t lower window at all but can find tool to break window and have the presence of mind to do so” is a very rare situation, much rarer than “car crashes and sharp bits damage occupants”.
both types of glass are designed to do that. The laminated version is designed to keep objects from penetrating and will keep most of the “old school” shards of glass from entering the vehicle. Tempered glass granulates into small pieces which are for the most part non-life threatening but you do get fine “splinter” shards that can be harmful.
If there are any automotive engineers who would like to chime in that would be great. The best reason I’ve found so far for laminate is sound suppression and light dispersion. I’m assuming it costs more.
I did check my car on the list and it does have laminate in the driver’s door. It’s marked clearly on the glass and you can easily see the layers looking down on the edge.
Hehehe, no, you didn’t. I just didn’t do much more than glance at it, because I know what laminated glass looks like and knew that my cars didn’t have it just by looking at the windows. However, I think that list may have been compiled in 2019, since it doesn’t list any years beyond that. Also, Tesla is listed as only using laminated glass on their rear glass.
I have one of those glass breaking tools, and it’s velcroed to the driver’s side window within easy reach. In the very unlikely event of my being trapped in my car, I feel confident about at least getting my hand on the tool and making an attempt at breaking the window.
I wondered if they were mandated to stop people from being ejected in an accident and that’s what the video says along with curtain air bags. My car has both. The rear passenger glass is not laminated in my car which I suspect is how all laminated passenger cars are set up.
Back in the day before seat belts I had heard horror stories where people had hit the windshield hard enough that their head went through then were decapitated on the rebound. Frankly, if someone is ejected out the side they likely weren’t wearing a seatbelt and I don’t see why their life-choices should put the rest of us at risk.
They were mandated because the total risk of death and injuries from all types of accidents is less with laminated than tempered. Not so difficult.
One can always postulate a sufficiently unusual accident where [whatever safety feature] turned out the be harmful.
For decades people have made the argument that they refuse to wear seatbelts since they can imagine an accident where the belt was more harm than good. And they are right insofar as it is possible to imagine such a thing. It might even actually occur IRL on very rare occasions, amounting to thousands (millions?) of lifetimes of driving. But it’s sure not the way to bet your life.
And that last sentence is the point.
If you want to ensure you’re not trapped behind laminated windows, drive with your windows rolled down. If it’s truly such a grave hazard, getting all that fresh air the old fashioned way should be a minor imposition by comparison.
Many years ago a farrier (person who shoes horses) gave me a ride somewhere in her work truck, which was stocked with lots and lots of various sizes of horseshoe blanks, nails, tools, an anvil, and so forth. The subject of seatbelts came up and she argued she’d be safer to be “thrown clear” of her truck and its contents. I forbore to contradict her, given the likelihood of her truck’s contents following her escape trajectory, let alone the consequences of hitting pavement, a rock, or a tree at highway velocity.